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​Grants for Research at Paediatrics & Child Health

The largest portfolio across the Faculty of Health Sciences​

The Department of Paediatrics & Child Health at AKU has a dedicated grants administration team, which manages the largest portfolio across the Faculty of Health Sciences. We are currently managing 64 active grants, 19 faculty investigators, and collaborations with 30 distinct granting agencies. We financially manage research projects worth up to USD 22 million to ensure that each one contributes effectively to our research goals. 

​​A list of active grants (last updated December 2023)​

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Title: Impact Assessment Of Rotavirus Vaccine Introduction In Pakistan's Routine Immunization​
Granting agency: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
Principal investigator: Syed Asad Ali​

Title: Genomic of Klebsiella Pneumonia and Neonatal Sepsis in Pakistan
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator: Imran Nisar​

Title: Nutritional support for pregnant and lactating women to improve birth and growth outcomes in a peri-urban slum of Karachi, Pakistan – a Randomized Controlled Trial
Granting agency: VITAL Pakistan Trust
Principal investigator: Fyezah Jehan

Title: Pilot Surveillance of Poliovirus excretion among persons with primary immune deficiency in Pakistan & Assessment of Sensitivity of Jaffery Modell Foundation Signs for screening of suspected PID Children
Granting agency: World Health Organization
Principal investigator: Ali Faisal Saleem

Title: Metagenomics for discovery of novel pathogens in infectious childhood illnesses
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator: Imran Nisar

Title: Capsule Endomicroscopy for small intestine implementation AKU
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator: Syed Asad Ali​

Title: Assessing introduction and impact of TCV into routine immunization in Gavi-eligible African and Asian countries
Granting agency: GAVI Alliance
Principal investigator: Farah Qamar

Title: Optimizing place of treatment and antibiotic regimens for young infants presenting with signs of possible serious bacterial infection (PSBI)
Granting agency: World Health Organization
Principal investigator: Fyezah Jehan

Title: Association between antimicrobial resistance pattern of Salmonella typhi with anti Vi lgG titers following administration of single dmie of typhoid conjugate vaccine (Typebar-TCV) among children aged 6 months to 10 years in Hyderabad, Pakistan
Granting agency: Sabin Vaccine Institute, Inc
Principal investigator: Farah Qamar

Title: COVID-19 HH Transmission study in Pakistan
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator: Imran Nisar

Title: Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Enteric Health and Malnutrition in Pakistan (PIDEMP) Research Training Program
Granting agency: National Institute of Health
Principal investigator: Syed Asad Ali​

Title: Antenatal and post natal research (ARC) collective
Granting agency: VITAL Pakistan Trust
Principal investigator: Zahra Hoodbhoy

Title: Fetal Doppler for antenatal stratification
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator:​ Zahra Hoodbhoy

Title: Environmental Surveillance in Pakistan
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 
Principal investigator:​ Farah Qamar

Title: Global Pediatric Diarrheal Surveillance (GPDS)
Granting agency: World Health Organization
Principal investigator:​ Syed Asad Ali

Title: University of Washington Arboviral Research Network + (Supplementary budget)
Granting agency: University of Washington
Principal investigator:​ Najeeha Talat

Title: Azithromycin and cefixime combination versus azithromycin alone for the out-patient treatment of uncomplicated typhoid in South Asia; a randomised controlled trial 
Granting agency: University of Oxford
Principal investigator:​ Farah Qamar

Title: TSA with AKU, Pakistan - To conduct activities for WHO ACTION-III Trial
Granting agency: World Health Organization
Principal investigator:​ Shabina Ariff

Title: Predicting ARDS and Subtyping Human Paediatric Sepsis
Granting agency: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Principal investigator:​ Sidra Ishaque​

Title: Covid-19, Burial Site Surveillance to Measure Excess Mortality - Pakistan
Granting agency: UT Southwestern Medical Center
Principal investigator:​ Momin Kazi

Title:  MBQ2/3: Human experimental medicine platform in Pakistan – PLANNING PHASE
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator:​ Syed Asad Ali​

Title: MOMI Biorepository Platform: AMANHI Pakistan
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator:​ Fyezah Jehan

Title: The neurodevelopment impact of environment on early life years
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator:​ Sidra Kaleem

Title: MBQ1: MOMI - Maternal GI Microbiome Analysis
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator:​ Fyezah Jehan​

Title: Salmonella genomics post TCV introduction in Pakistan
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator:​ Farah Qamar

Title: Enteric for Global Health (EFGH) - Pakistan
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator:​ Farah Qamar

Title: Effectiveness of Clinical Algorithms combined with Point-of-Care testing to improve Antibiotic Prescribing practices of physicians in outpatient setting of low middle-income country: A Pre-Post interventional study
Granting agency: Pfizer Inc
Principal investigator:​ Sonia Qureshi​

Title: Using Lactate Testing to Improve maternal sepsis identification : a multi-country test accuracy study and feasibility assessment
Granting agency: Medical Research Council (UoL)
Principal investigator:​ Lumaan Sheikh

Title: Karachi Integrated Digital Health Research Platform- Nested Studies
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator:​ Fyezah Jehan

Title: The Nutritional Management of  Moderate Wasting in Children 6-24 months of age with acute illness (NUTRI-MAM Trial)
Granting agency: World Health Organization
Principal investigator:​ Farah Qamar

Title: Establishing Maternal Anemia definitions and etiologies in LMIC
Granting agency: Kintampo Health Research Centre
Principal investigator:​ Imran Nisar

Title: Karachi Platform: BEP/MD-RUTF Trial Planning Grant
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator:​ Zahra Hoodbhoy

Title: Mapping the Early Childhood Gut Across Ancestry, Geography and Environment
Granting agency: Boston Children's Hospital
Principal investigator:​ Imran Nisar

Title: Randomized Controlled trial to assess the immunogenicity, safety and reactogenicity of full dose versus fractional dose of Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Sinovac-CoronaVac COVID-19 caccines given as an additional dose at least 6 months after full vaccination or PCR-Confirmed infection with SARS-Cov-2 in Healthy Adults
Granting agency: Sabin Vaccine Institute, Inc
Principal investigator:​ Farah Qamar

Title: Young Investigator Training Award 2021
Granting agency: Institut Merieux
Principal investigator:​ Farah Qamar

Title: Effectiveness of Integrated Management of Childhood Illness mentoring and enhanced supervision to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescription by care in outpatient setting of primary health care faci1ities in Pakistan
Granting agency: Health Research Institute
Principal investigator:​ Rabab Batool

Title: To conduct a population based cross sectional survey to assess the random shedding of Poliovirus 1 among healthy children eligible for poliovirus vaccination in Pakistan and to explore the sociodemographic characteristics
Granting agency: World Health Organization
Principal investigator:​ Tahir Yousafzai

Title: GPS2: Global Pneumococcal Sequence surveillance 2.0
Granting agency: Wellcome Sanger Institute
Principal investigator:​ Imran Nisar

Title: Comprehensive Profiling of Social Mixing Patterns in Resource Poor Countries 
Granting agency: Emory University
Principal investigator: Momin Kazi​

Title: Artificial Intelligence Methods for Low Field MRI Enhancement
Granting agency: King's College London
Principal investigator:​ Zahra Hoodbhoy​

Title: Implementation Adaptation and Effectiveness of Early Childhood Newborn Parenting Education Program at Primary Health Care Facilities of Pakistan: A Feasibility Study
Granting agency: Aga Khan Foundation, Pakistan
Principal investigator:​ Shelina Bhamani

Title: Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) Network
Granting agency: UT Southwestern Medical Center
Principal investigator:​ Momin Kazi

Title: Developing a screening tool for primary immunodeficiency disease (PID) in Pakistan
Granting agency: PATH
Principal investigator:​ Ali Faisal Saleem

Title: (EFGH) Molecular Diagnostics Core Facility for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health
Granting agency: University of Virginia
Principal investigator:​ Sonia Qureshi 

Title: Supplement for Long Covid/University of Washington Arboviral Research Network
Granting agency: University of Washington
Principal investigator:​ Najeeha Talat

Title: A Phase II, Randomized, Observer-blinded, Placebo Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of Hecolin® in Healthy Pregnant Women between Gestational Age 14-34 weeks and Non-Pregnant Women of 16-45 years old
Granting agency: International Vaccine Institute
Principal investigator:​ Imran Nisar

Title: MBQ2: MITI-002 Construction of a healthy synthetic Pakistani LBP
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator:​ Syed Asad Ali

Title: AMANHI Stool Microbiome Study 
Granting agency: World Health Organization
Principal investigator:​ Fyezah Jehan

Title: Nutritional management of growth faltering in infants aged under six months in Asia and Africa. Study protocol for an individually randomised trial
Granting agency: World Health Organization
Principal investigator:​ Fyezah Jehan

Title: MEM Vedanta DAC Trial Planning Grant
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator:​ Fyezah Jehan

Title: Evaluating pneumococcal carriage and changes in serotype distribution after a switch from PCV10 to PCV13 in children in a rural site in Matiari, Pakistan
Granting agency: Pfizer Inc
Principal investigator:​ Imran Nisar​

Title: Functional Genomics Of Hereditary Breast Cancer in the Pakistani Population
Granting agency: Higher Education Commission
Principal investigator:​​ Salman Kirmani

Title: MAL-ED Tac Card NF with Stool sample collection for microbiome study 
Granting agency: The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia
Principal investigator:​​ Najeeha Talat ​

Title: Global Human Papillomavirus burden Study
Granting agency: International Vaccine Institute
Principal investigator:​​ Fyezah Jehan

Title: Paternal epigenetic association with infant birth weight
Granting agency: Wellcome Leap, Inc
Principal investigator:​​ Syed Asad Ali

Title: Developing Advanced "Druggable" Gene Editing Tools for Treating β-Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Disease
Granting agency: Wellcome Leap, Inc
Principal investigator:​​ Afsar Mian

Title: Feasibility Assessment for SDR in KP Province, Pakistan-Workstream B
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator:​​ Shabina Ariff

Title: Integrated Disaster Response Program team meeting 
Granting agency: CETE​
Principal investigator:​​ Kishwar Enam, Adina Sajjad

Title: Integrated Disaster Response Program team meeting
Granting agency: Paediatrics
Principal investigator:​​ Anita Zaidi & Ali Saleem

Title: Seed Money Grant
Granting agency: URC-AKU
Principal investigator:​​ Shahzadi Resham

Title: Global Scales for Early Development (GSED) Project – next steps 
Granting agency: World Health Organization
Principal investigator:​​ Imran Nisar

Title: Enterics for Global Health (EFGH)
Granting agency: Emory University
Principal investigator:​​ Tahir Yousafzai

Title: PRISMA 2.0 – Pakistan
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator:​​ Zahra Hoodbhoy

Title: Probiotic Study
Granting agency: World Health Organization
Principal investigator:​​ Fyezah Jehan

Title: MBQ2/3: Maternal Microbiome EMP - Pakistan Analysis 
Granting agency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Principal investigator:​​ Fyezah Jehan

Title: Randomized double blind, non-inferiority trial of azithromycin
Granting agency: Medical Research Council
Principal investigator:​​ Farah Qamar

Title: Fetal Age and Machine Learning Initiative (FAMLI): Prospective Obstetric Ultrasound Study Protocol​
Granting agency: Univ​ersity of North Carolina, US
Principal investigator:​​ Zahra Hoodbhoy

Title: Genomic surveillance of Gram-negative bacteria in NICU
Granting agency: Medical Research Council
Principal investigator:​​ Farah Qamar

Title: Redefining Traditions - Implementing a community-based behaviour change campaign to reduce the incidence of consanguinity-related genetic disorders  
Granting agency: Medical Research Council
Principal investigator:​​ Salman Kirmani

Title: KAP Dissemination Study
Granting agency: World Health Organization
Principal investigator:​​ Imran Nisar​

Title: SHIPSS
Granting agency: CHEO RI, KK Women's and Children's Hospital 
Principal investigator:​​ Qalab Abbas​

Title: KidsBrainIT-2
Granting agency: MRC
Principal investigator:​​ Qalab Abbas

Title: A Multi-country, Multi-center, Open-labelled, Randomized Controlled Extended Phase III Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Immunogenicity and Tolerability of Sabin Strain Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine Administered with or without Routine Infant Vaccines
Granting agency: SINOVAC BIOTECH CO., LTD
Principal investigator:​​ Ali Faisal Saleem

Title: Teaching through simulation based foundation of Paediatric Boot Camp CODE BLUE in a tertiary care center of a developing country
Granting agency: Inspire
Principal investigator:​​ Naveed Rehman

Title: Perinatal Transmission of MDR Gram-negatives and Infant Health
Granting agency: NIH
Principal investigator:​​ Fyezah Jehan

Title: Enabling Platforms for Maternal Immunization: PAKISTAN
Granting agency: Gates Foundation
Principal investigator:​​​ Imran Nisar

Title: Carrier screening for Spinal Muscular Atrophy in peri-urban setting in Karachi, Pakistan
Granting agency: URC-AKU
Principal investigator:​​ Bushra Afroze

Title:  Investigating early peripheral miRNA biomarkers for intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) due to fetal hypoxia in a cohort of pregnant women admitted to the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan
Granting agency: URC-AKU
Principal investigator:​​ Waqasuddin Khan

Title: Studying the factors associated with adverse health outcomes for mothers and young children through the AMANHI cohort
Granting agency: World Health Organization
Principal investigator:​​​ Fyezah Jehan

Title: Computational Interrogation of Early Signatures of Environmental Enteropathy 
Granting agency: University of Virginia
Principal investigator:​​​ Imran Nisar​

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